Surprise apricots! Plus, peak tomato, cherries’ final throws, enter celeriac, and the Festivale rundown and more light reading.
It’s Festivale Weekend! Which, again, means that we’re pretty certain this edition might not enjoy the same high click rate that is the norm. Hell, even we’re getting out and about and stuck into it. But, it is possibly the biggest weekend of the year in Launceston so, we’re stoked on the vibe, so to speak.
At Harvest this week : Peak Tomato
You know when the tomato season in Tasmania has reached its zenith. It’s in the air. You can’t cross the street without being offered some. Enter the pub, and the conversation will certainly turn to tomatoes inside the first schooner. You will variously congratulate or commiserate with your peers on their successes and failures. Someone will offer you seed-saving tips, or soil pH advice, or anti-fungal remedies. It’s the state’s unofficial pastime for a few months of the year.
That time is upon us, and it is fantastic. We are lucky enough to feature the state’s single most outstanding tomato grower each and every week at Harvest. So, if like us, you love tomatoes but can’t grow them to save your life, TNGT can give you all of the above, plus the actual tomatoes too.
Plus
Enter celeriac, a vegetable that we believe is an unsung hero. We’ll be offering plenty of celeriac inspiration in the next few weeks because this week marks the 2024 debut of Matt and Elphin Grove Farm. Do you need some to get you started? Sure. Next time you’re making a potato bake, layer in some celeriac slices, and use nutty Gruyere or Tilsit for a topper. We’ll bet good money that it will be the best potato bake of your life.
We love it when our phone rings on a Friday morning announcing a surprise run of first-grade apricots. To be fair, it doesn’t happen often, which makes it all the sweeter. So, with a bit of jiggling and juggling, we’ve squeezed in Penna Valley Farms for a Farnham-esque comeback.
We’re not saying this is the last week you’ll find cherries at the market, but we’re saying it could be. We’re super stoked to have Kingrock and their late varietals each year, but their time is finite. We have sought but could not be given assurances of cherries beyond this week, so consider this your fair warning.
The Festivale rundown plus some more light reading.
Well, not so much a rundown as a bit of a plug for our stallholders that are making the most of the weekend. We love Festivale as a major event in Launceston and the vibe it creates. Great stuff. For a delicious beverage, you want to swing over and see Jules and Kyle at New Norfolk Distillery, and for a brilliant feed, Juan and family at Malvinas Paellas is your go-to. Plus, keep an eye out for our very own Market Manager doing some eating, drinking and disgusting schmoozing for the camera.
And as for some light reading, we always take an interest in these monthly fresh food reviews. The Churchill Fellowship announced that it is running some specific sponsored opportunities related to food production in 2024. Exciting! There is an information session online next Tuesday. Finally, in the ongoing interrogation of our food systems, Australian farmers are seeking a specific investigation into the gap between their contracts and retail pricing. Fascinating.